Category: Magickal Studies

Okay so, maybe I won’t be having much of a vacation this summer, but I do plan on turning my frustrations into love. ❤

So, as of around May 6th I stopped doing magick.

Well, to be specific, I decided that I would avoid doing magick for matters that involved my own personal materialistic gain. Instead, I am focusing my attention on getting as close to the divine unity as I possibly can. Here’s the conversation that I have had with non-magickal practioners (of any religious denomination) about the matter:

“Good job! Way to give your life over to the Lord.”

…and from other magickal practioners of any magickal paradigm:

“You *really* sold out to [insert assumption of religious identity usually associated with Judaism, Christianity or Islam here]?” {judgmental glare}

Well here’s a lovely curve ball for both extremes. I learned 5 lessons off the bat from NOT practicing magic as I normally do.

EVERYTHING is magic. If you can concentrate while building something for someone and give it to them, that is magic. I just so happen to have creative inclinations, so practically everything has a charge. I genuinely can’t help it.

My needs are met regardless. There are a number of ignorant mundane zealots who view any magical gesture geared towards a certain goal as being “unfair,” as if hard work isn’t involved. I’ll ignore the latter half of their argument that one can do magic without lifting a finger in the real world, and I want to address the fairness aspect. First of all, I don’t judge you for being able to make your own–anything–by McGuyvering the laws of physics in ways that I cannot to repair your car, headphones, or whatever so you don’t have to pay extra cash. Being a magical practioner with occult knowledge is very similar: I studied hard, and I know how to appeal to the unseen powers that be to get things done in certain ways. Secondly, even in forgoing doing magic for my own sake, by relying on the divine source, everything is accounted for: housing, shelter, food, everything. Even self esteem and psychological matters are accounted for. Everything is addressed and in perfect balance, I can literally rest easy primarily because I have always had a connection with the divine. My goal now is just to learn how to trust.

I am understanding and building my relationship by using what “blasphemous and ungodly” techniques I already know. I can figure out where I need to go, obtain any message that I need to obtain, with simple divinatory know how, meditation, and an open heart. Bibliomancy has been my close friend, and bouncing between the Bible and the Quran has been very interesting given the different voices the voice of the Divine assumes between the two texts. I can meditate and get a gist of why certain things are happening. I can pray and concerns are answered because I learned so many avenues to listening. I know insecurity is part of the ride, but I place my trust in the one I am reaching, and I have only received signs that I am accepted by the divine. Granted, that still doesn’t stop the haters.

Both the mage and the religious conservative can be self important, stuck up, and controlling d***s. I’m completely surprised, honestly. On both sides of the fence I have had my identity questioned. I’ve straight up had to do some toe to toe spiritual battling with someone I thought was going to be a guide for me but instead tried to tell me I was supposed to be under his authority…more on that in a later post. I had to suffer duplicity in one magical group I was a part of (which I left of my own volition). Granted, both experiences were humbling in their own ways, but at the same time, I spent a lot of emotional energy that I probably won’t get back.

My mind is a lot clearer. At first, I found myself feeling very anxious, and I had cast a spell to cheer myself up out of habit. Even restraining oneself from practicing magic is a form of fasting, a form of meditation. As time passed, I noticed tensions begin to fall off and my shoulders and heart become lighter. I don’t quite know how, but I think I had a lot of things on autopilot, and I didn’t even realize it. Now, I live in the present more than I did before.

I’ll probably be posting just a little more often than I normally do, but my message for you peeps doing something off beat: just do your thing. Earlier this year I already new that I was doomed to be hated because I had no singular artificial religious or spiritual identity. Magician is the only thing that I can be rationally called, but I’ve gotten heat from both sides, the occultists and the religious, but I’m where I am so I can fight for both when it’s needed. Go ahead and go against the grain, especially if you are certain its the right way to go. Be courageous and don’t let anyone phase you!

Statement of Intent: During processes of purging, the person obtains cognizance of and willfully nurtures divine potentials.

Mantra:Bikov durasp, flo gaven zewic.

General associations: The phrase “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.” Newly germinated seeds. Babies and youth. The 6 of disks. Motherhood. Warm, moist, and fertile soil. The act of carefully removing weeds from a garden so as not to kill saplings.

I’m sure anyone could come up with just about any method to use this; but I have personally found that if I were to look at the larger sigil while contemplating something aggravating me, especially when I’m on the verge of making a drastic “cut,” some redeemable qualities in the object of contemplation will start to come to mind. Usually, these qualities have the potential to be advantageous or to my disadvantage; there is a crap shoot nature to the quality that can go either or way. There is an element of mystery.

If you don’t have the sigil on hand, use the mantra; it functions the same as the sigil and was created from the exact same statement of intent, but they are both one and the same entity. Recite the mantra until it becomes second nature, like breathing, in both your mind’s thoughts and lips. At this point you can either allow your mind to relax and take note of any situations which arise, or you can shift your attention secondarily to a specific situation. The name “Bigawi” is also the associated word of power.

Prerequisites:

If you don’t know how to meditate this is probably going to be a difficult servitor to use. It was not created to bitch slap answers in your face. (Though I guess it could, depending on the user’s style)

Let’s look at it this way: you need the similar awareness of your thought and communication patterns as would be needed to remove weeds from a garden while being aware of where you planted your original seeds (without having any markers). Otherwise, what will happen is that you may stumble upon the said quality or topic worthy of preserving but you won’t realize it. It will be like saying “I don’t know what to write about for this newspaper article about Christmas,” but then you go off telling me about how Aunt Agnis made the best plum pie for Christmas dinner…

Feel free to leave comments below or send me a PM about your experiences using Bigawi.

Some Considerations about the Statement of Intent

In understanding the statement of intent and the concepts used to create Bigawi, hopefully you can find creative ways to use her. I created this servitor with some degree of etymological specificity. Generally speaking, words have a psychic “charge” to them and the use of certain words will have a certain type of psychological affect and stir certain subjective associations. A good example would be an effect of the use of the word “profound,” which has etymological associations with the deep sea and the metaphor of wisdom or intellect being as deep as the sea. So, it would not be uncommon to see someone take a very deep gulp of a drink if they tapped into the nature, the spirit, of that word. This concept has influenced the word choices for the following terms.

The use of the word “Purge”

The original statement included the words “purging, release, and refinement,” implying that this could be used only during periods of catharsis. My intention for the choice to use the word “purge” over catharsis, and instead of release and refinement, has more so to do with the scope of applicability. “Purge” feels much more dirty and raw, while “catharsis” feels ennobling and purposeful. However, they both practically mean the exact same thing. Between the two, depending on the intention of the individual, I felt as though “Purge” added for flexibility for the user: from literally cleaning shit, to figuring out whether to get that awful haircut, to throwing away all of the sentimental items that your ex gave you, or seeking spiritual cleanliness. Purge has a MUCH broader connotation.

Use of the word “Cognizance”

The original statement variations used the words “recognized” and “discovered.” Recognized breaks down to literally mean “to know again.” Use of either of these words would have resulted in a couple of different problems: One may or may not have known at all, and that *thing* which is redeemable may not even be sensorily detectable at the moment. As for the word “discovered,” which means “to uncover” or to “reveal,” there is a much more aggressive and invading connotation. I can discover the gifts that my mother may have hidden in the closet, spoiling the surprise. I can discover that someone is lying to me; the problem is that discovery involves some sort of disturbance, which can hinder or harm the development of whatever is germinating.

So really, one just needs to know. The phrase “obtains cognizance” implies a lack of disturbance but gaining knowledge. It is awareness and attention without one necessarily intervening, which brings us to our next term.

Use of the word “Willfully”

I believe that everyone, to some extent is an artist. How good of an artist you are doesn’t necessarily reflect only in how well you wield your mediums towards a particular execution; it is also not only reflected in your ability to think and perceive things creatively. To be a good artist, I believe, one must think and perceive the world creatively, see ways in which the world may be challenged, and artfully act in a manner that makes your challenge apparently known and/or yields a specific result. Thus, at least in my perspective, all artists are magical practitioners to an extent. Perhaps not well versed in the occult arts, but at least able to make some thing or persons submit to one’s will. This servitor can be used by anyone.

When one wills anything, they also choose. This protects whatever is known from haphazard and accidental disturbance, and yet it gives power to whomever is doing the house cleaning to think about how to take appropriate action.

Note that “willfully” is an adverb and part of the adverbial phrase “willfully protects and nurtures.” You can choose to protect or nurture, but it is all up to you, your true will, and intention in the end. Once again, this puts the onus on the person, magically oriented or not, to choose how to handle the new information.

Use of the word “Divine”

I think this is probably the one term that would hang up a lot of people who claim to be LHP or RHP, but my reasoning behind the use of the term “divine,” at least to me, refers to the proper place of a thing that may be of what we consider of either “good” or “bad.” Most will assume that lizards are “bad” while I consider them “good” because I understand their place, despite what I may dislike about them out of fear. Thus, in that sense, in some case, even that which we consider “bad” is “good,” and that which we consider “blasphemous,” “disgusting,” or “undesirable” could be “divine” in nature. The etymology for the word “divine” according to etymonline is “of a god.” That god can be infernal, or heavenly, or somewhere in between.

To further my definition of “divine” I intended it to mean good in the sense that I stated above. It also includes that which warrants some element of appreciation and love, and it may include that which holds virtue, by which I mean authenticity.

I think the best recommendation I can give in understanding what I mean is to abandon all sense of division and polarity, and you’ll get a good gist of what I mean by “Divine.”

You probably don’t see it, but things really will be okay. ❤

I think this has probably been the most enriching but most difficult month for me in my life thus far, and as a result I have been tempted just to throw everything (or almost everyone) away and start over from scratch. I’m not going to beat around the bush: this year completely sucked and I feel like nearly everyone new who has entered or reentered my life should probably be set on fire and then doused in my saltier-than-the-Red-Sea ocean of misery, annoyances, and justified complaints. The only ointment I have are my few closest friends and my family members…

What?! I’m human. Am I not allowed to vocalize my discontent? Who the hell are you to tell me how I can or cannot feel, or what I can or cannot say? I’m pretty sure you’ll feel this way–or have felt this way– at some point too. I’m just being forthcoming with you so you know where I’m coming from.

Like some fed up with this year, I began my usual magical purge: working with the Gemini Moon to eliminate some emotional sorrows and facilitate dialogue, hitting up Saturn on Saturnalia to turn hierarchies upside down in to hopes of loosening some societal pressures, following up on dream after dream. I had one in particular on the night of the Winter Solstice which was rather poignant.

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING MAY GROSS YOU OUT,

I dreamed that there were bugs underneath my skin that looked a lot like praying mantises, but they were not. They looked gross, dark, and I knew that beneath the skin of my arm was not where they belong. Some had gotten insanely large, and I was able to reach unto my pores and pull them out. There were some who’s body parts, or insect parts or whatever, started to become dismembered as I pulled them out of my skin, so I had to actually dig in and take them out manually. At one point, I thought I had gotten them all out, but as I started touching and pressing against my skin, checking for bulges, I found smaller, younger insects. When I had finished, I felt light.

…But I missed something. At my wrist there was a small seed which began to germinate, and in my dedication to get rid of **everything** burrowed under my skin, I had pulled out the sapling, and all of its roots, and threw it away. After contemplation of this dream in my waking life, I remembered how I had seen similar saplings in another dream, but instead it was part of a forest that comprised my hair. A friend of mine had given me a reading on the dream, and low and behold, there were indications that I may have went, or am going, too far in my house cleaning.

Like I said, I’m human. I’m pretty sure you’re human too. I’m also pretty sure you’ve felt the way I have felt, or perhaps you will feel this way in the future. My Christmas gift to you is access to this servitor for whenever you feel like destroying everything; it will help one to recognize those things which are worth preserving. Click here for more information about the servitor named Bigawi.

Genuinity and love are both feelings that were present, but something about that statement seems wrong now. He was like a breath of fresh air, literally. I never got a chance to tell him that I loved the flavor of his mint-cold kisses. I never got a chance to tell him that I hated when he switched to Juicy fruit gum. Actually, the moment that he switched to Juicy fruit, I knew that things could only go downhill.

Somewhere, I hoped that someone as intelligent as he would see the error in such a poor gum choice. Maybe it was a fluke?

It wasn’t an accident. It never is. It wasn’t an accident that with the airy winds this merman brought a series of unfortunate circumstances: my having to uncross myself because he decided to fuck with another magical practitioner, and the undelineable cluster of sorrow from the effects of the crossing which was strangely contagious like a cold or an STD, the heartbreak I felt after foolishly choosing to fall in love, and the depression that I experienced from birth control that just didn’t jive with my body. Funny how a man who was so fixated on cleanliness was so…spiritually not. Even stranger that the merman didn’t realize this through his own Piscean instincts.

I felt dirty. Not just from him, but I felt something was amiss. “Go take a bath.” They said. I tend to hear them clearest whenever I’m in emotional distress or during the slivered cracks in my consciousness during a rite. “You’re beautiful, go take a bath,” they said again. I guess you can count the ceremonial moment when things are over and out of your control, and the choice to allow oneself to be vulnerable and feel deep sorrow as a rite in and of itself.

While in the tub, I closed my eyes and sang the Gayatri mantra. I found myself in a familiar field: I recognized it from my guided meditations and my entry into the Strategic Sorcery group. The sun was out, but the clouds above me were excruciatingly dark. I sang louder, with more force to push them as far back into the horizon as I could, but as soon as I sang them away, they rolled back. I called for reinforcements, and the day turned to night, and the sky became clear once again: the moon and the stars illuminated the sky. He left, and I opened my eyes to find myself in the scented tub again. I stepped out, anointed myself with protection oil, and sat a tealight candle on top of a mirror I had.

I hope that they experience ten times the stress I had to go through to get rid of this mess. Granted, I had to unhinge one last thing, but that was relatively easy to reverse. My tolerance for assholes, loud noises, and sexist pigs on the other hand, that has permanently decreased.

………….

One morning I decided to go back to the field, and I found my little space. I found my baby pink rose colored bed space on the floor with billowy pillows inviting me to sit and lay, to which I obliged. My room had changed, but I remembered a few little things. I found the door that led to other worlds, but I think this was the first time I put it to use. “Who am I connected to?” I asked. To my left, I saw a dark blue bridge intertwined with dual rays. It led to a place with darkened clouds. “Who is this?” I asked, and the answer downloaded to my mind. It’s the bridge to my best friends, Twin-Crab and Daffodil. As I was contemplating taking the bridge to visit them, I found myself in the living room of their apartment, which was empty…for the most part. I struggled to get back to the platform outside of my space, and I looked at the other bridges.

One bridge was crumbling and short, while another was fully formed. There were others, like the cold, barren, but sturdy one to my ex, but I didn’t pay too much attention to them. I looked at the short and stubby one and asked “Who’s bridge is this?” And the person’s image came to mind. “No way…Seriously, who’s bridge is this?” I asked. A pathetic cartoon drawing came to mind that was about as pitiful in style as this One-Punch man drawing:

I shook my head. I don’t even know what pseudonym to give the dude. Let’s see. His word is about as valuable as dirt and don’t expect him to follow through with anything he says unless he “promises.” He’s moody as hell. He screwed up his reputation by being so damn crabby towards other people. I spent a lot of time trying to mitigate damages, and I attempted to understand where he was coming from. Establish some point of reference and maybe create some sort of change.

…and that’s why the bridge is basically a stub. In matter of fact, that’s what I’ll call him: Stub-Butt.
Stub for short.

Out of a whim, I guess a challenge, I decided to rebuild the bridge.

Oh and did I rebuild it.

I forced a big ass bridge adorned with flags and fabric was underneath it which caught the wind, making the bridge look like it was floating. As soon as it was solid and reached the other end, it fell apart.

“Son of a bitch, you never make things easy do you?” I called on the servitor I had created, Hopladu, to build a bridge. A little bit about Hopladu: he’s a black and white striped servitor, a bit of a mime and clown created to pull Stub out of his funk. He’s a hopeful, fun, but mischievous little creature.

“Hey, make a bridge to him here.” I commanded.

And quickly he got to work. He stretched his body from my end to his, but he had a little too much fun. He started making crazy shapes, warping the bridge, making his form skinny, acting like silly string in the wind.

…hmm…on second thought, I created him through the Linking Sigil network, so it’s probably not a good idea to build a bridge on something that volatile. Before I uttered a thought he vanished in a glitter filled rainbow smoke and left me with the stub bridge.

I reformed the pillars and the bridge I envisioned, but it would not stick. The only thing that I could think of that could was the one thing that kept his ass in check: education. The third time around I lined books at his end of the bridge, and it was epically more stable.

“Really? The only thing keeping this bridge open is my educational resources? That’s it?!”

I tested the theory, and so long as a book was on his side of the bridge entry way, no matter how narrow, a bridge formed.

Okay then. I see how this rolls. I feel like being experimental anyway. I’m going to solidify this damn bridge’s existence by storytelling.

I opened my eyes, and set aside Linking Sigil book I was reading, opened my laptop, and started writing this story.

A few months ago, last year actually, I broke things off with my ex-boyfriend. Even though I was the one who called it off, I was shell shocked from it: we were in a relationship with each other for half a decade. Our anniversary was only two months prior, but I felt as though something was wrong. My feelings were reaffirmed through a dream and further reaffirmed by sequences of events which occurred afterwards. Despite this affirmation that my decision was the right one, I still felt as though I had been in a terrible accident and I lost a friend. I mean, to an extent, I was, and I did. I had prayed a novena to Raphael and sought one for Haniel. I couldn’t find one that I liked, so I evoked Haniel who gave me the seeds of a prayer which I later cultivated into a poem.

For those who may not know, Haniel is the archangel of the sphere of Venus, Netzach, in planetary magic. Her name translates to “The Joy of God,” and with her associations with the planet Venus and its archetypes, she is also the angel of beauty, love, and affection. If we look to Taurus, one of the affiliated zodiac signs, we also learn that she has a connection with the earth and its production. This is echoed in the Empress of the Tarot card, a planetary Trump associated with Venus, who is often depicted amidst foliage, nature, or water, depending on what deck you are using. If you want to understand a little bit about the sphere of Netzach, I would advise contemplating on the Empress, the Heirophant, and Justice/Adjustment tarot cards.

You may want to go to Haniel in matters pertaining to women, love, sex, and, as you will see, confidence. I’ve used variations of this prayer for a wide range of matters. As a daily prayer, I have found that it taps me into her energies where I can place my requests for the day, sometimes triggering emotional revelations. I have used it to give me confidence when I was in the presence of someone that I liked, and I’ve even used it for communication topics.

Yesterday, I made a couple of sigils for people who had something they wanted to change in their life. Take a look at what some of them asked for:Anonymous: I want company, I don’t want to be alone.

Anonymous: I need focused inspiration
Mantra: Tam delun wahirsa (My mind is clear of impurities)From a lovely lady named Yolanda: Yolanda learns to live her life with fewer worries.
Mantra: Supir Layud Vanet Howav
Her sigil looks like something is blooming, so I made her mantra to mean “Yolanda develops a relationship with nature.

Luke made a request to become more spiritually adept.
I paired that with a statement to become wiser every time he uses his wit.
Mantra: Taprasco Lezufi Howamed Yanaika

A person who requested anonymity made the following request:
I want to experience uncontrollable laughter.
Mantra: Mahagad Franel Vetoju Zaciwas
“I find joy in unsuspecting places”

As promised, I am also working on a couple of sigils which can be used by anyone who wishes to make genuine changes in their lives. I should have it completed by mid-September.

Until then, do have a sigil request? You can purchase a sigil and its corresponding mantra for $5. I will draw one, make it into a vector (.png), and create a cooresponding mantra for you which will be available within 24 hours of your request.

Or, if you follow me on Facebook, you can send me a message with your request, and I will choose 10-15 requests to create sigils and mantras for. I plan on doing sigil requests every Sunday

With every breath, I choose.
With every foot step I take in life, I reaffirm my vows.
Where you go, I follow.

In So You Think You Can…Magick? I talked about how Warnock and Greer summed up the author’s criteria for a sage written in the Picatrix. It’s pretty insane.

I decided to do a no-no and jump directly to Book 4 Chapter 5 where the author talks about the criteria. Interestingly, he also talks about love. Since we were kids we have heard of stories telling us to love despite appearances, socioeconomic status, and heritage. It still holds true in the Picatrix as well, for the author talks about the importance of nurturing a virtuous love over lustful physical love. He then continues to talk about the manner of love as it relates to the three portions of the human spirit:

The human spirit is divided into three parts, that is: the animal spirit, the natural spirit, and the rational spirit. If the Natural spirit of a man has conquered the others, he will be a lover of such things as food and drink, and nothing else; if the animal spirit has conquered the others, he will be a lover of nothing but conquering and surpassing others; while if the rational spirit conquers, he will be a lover of nothing but intellect, goodness, and knowledge.

He continues to say that indications of the sort of love that a person is likely to give would be based upon one’s Lord of the Nativity, also known as the Lord of Geniture. Venus as one’s Lord would indicate that one is a lover of women. Mars as one’s Lord will make one a lover of competition and dominance, and Jupiter or Mercury as one’s Lord would indicate that one is a lover of the mind, philosophy and rational thought. I found it interesting that he did not address Saturn, likely because it is the greater malefic. Equally likely is that I missed this information when I skipped from the translator’s introduction to the 4th Book without fully reading everything in between.

So I’ve actually been meditating on this concept for quite some time and trying to think of the implications of such a perception on love. I tend to avoid the belief that one is fated to any set system, even astrology, particularly because we can all choose to change our behaviors and ourselves at any given time. Ideally, anyways. I’m also sure that there is an some sort of ennobling and divine trait in one who is a lover of women or men or one who seeks competition. But then, I can only imagine what it is like to be something I am not and admire it. However, even this imagining is not the same as being.

Overall, I’m not too crazy about the “heterosexual man’s world” perspective in which this is written, but I knew I was going to encounter this before I even started the project. I think after I go about reading the rest of the book, I think I may propose my own two cents on the Lord of Geniture attributes for a more modern era.

If you’re willing to do the footwork and find our Lord of Geniture, I would definitely recommend checking out The Unlikely Mage’s blog. He throws a lot of information at you, but it will get you in the ball park of figuring out your Lord yourself.

Somebody said every day, was gon’ be sunny skies,Only Marvin Gaye and lingerie, I guess somebody liedWe started discussin’ it to fightin’ then “Don’t touch me, please.”

Last night I dreamt that my ex-boyfriend deleted my Netflix profile on his account, and I panicked screaming that he never loved me. I had named my profile “Your Heartmate.” Well, clearly he never quite viewed me the same way. Its funny how I was willing to fight an army for someone who could barely gather the courage and gusto to fight to keep me. It still hurts, actually.

Ah! The wonderful dreams which wake me at 6:00 AM. More than likely it was a result of a magickal operation I did last night which was focused on helping me to shed that which is dead and obstructing my connection with whatever supreme deity does exist. I used the technique listed here: Frater-S’s Talisman Consecration Using Invocation and the Tarot

Of course, there were significant adjustments. Yes, I separated my space. However, the invocation was a different beast entirely. I started with the headless rite, continued with the Heptasphere, giving Archangel Michael a heads up that I would soon call upon him for invocation.

Since my talisman was also a sigil cluster, I had to include charging the sigil into the procedures. After the invocation, I lit the black and white candle, similarly formed by hand in a triangular form, and chanted the solar seed syllable six times through it and to the talisman. I charged it in my normal way, chanting the mantra while looking at the sigil, and contemplating on the tarot cards as per Frater-S’s instructions. At the end, my head felt like it was puffy. Actually, it still feels that way. Here’s a picture of the set up:

I always try to do a short divination to see how things went during whatever operation I’m performing. Something interesting, geomancy (a simple 6 sided dice reading using Random.org) revealed that it was both a talisman and a sigil, but wouldn’t recognize it as one item. I found this quite interesting.

In any case, my dreams were energetic, enough to wake me two hours earlier than I normally do. I’m probably going to do this again.

Don’t worry, being a mage isn’t a competition…except maybe with yourself.

This is going to be one of my first reflections about the Picatrix. I’ve been on a bit of a magickal burn as of late, and I have certain things in place to make me realize where I need to straighten up. Now that I’ve expanded my territory, so to speak, I am starting to realize just how massive the world really is. As of late, one of the things that has been on my mind was something written in the “Translator’s Introduction” section of the Picatrix, Liber Atratus Edition:

The author of the Picatrix conveniently lists the qualifications for a [sage] in Book IV, Chapter 5; they include a good working knowledge of the following topics: agriculture, seafaring, and politics, the military sciences, “the civilized arts by which people are helped,” including grammar, languages, law, rhetoric, writing, and economics; the four traditional branches of mathematics–arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music; logic, with the works of Aristotle specifically singled out for study; medicine; the natural sciences, and metaphysics, with Aristotle’s writings on these two subjects again specifically referenced.

Greer and Warnock continue to mention about how massive such a requirement is for becoming a mage. I agree.However, in reflecting upon myself and my other friends with magical tendencies, I do notice a trend.

I can confidently say that I am a Jack of all Trades, and a master of none. I used to be wonderful in math–algebra, trigonometry, geometry, and calculus– before I focused my attention to language. I’ve steadily become interested in rhetoric and communication, and a friend of mine–unbeknownst to him– taught me a little bit about law. I took astronomy in college and played guitar with one of my other best friends, but I’m QUITE weak in actually writing or reading musical notes. Also, my father taught me how to garden, and through that interest, I explored herbs and their uses. Finally, of course, I am, and will always be, an artist: I paint, draw, and design regularly. I’m quite Mercurial in this sense.

Maybe I do have what it takes to become the mage mentioned in the Picatrix minus the fact that I am both black and female. Of course, I have a lot of brushing up to do, but I will attest that it does help to know what resources you have through your own skills when you want to do some impromptu magick.

My other magickally oriented friends seem to be heavily involved in mathematics, technology, and writing. They are all imaginative and with a sharp wit. Most are rather intelligent and rational.

I think that if the magickal life is for you, you will probably have found yourself equipped with many, but not all, of the skills and knowledge expressed in the Picatrix. Even if you don’t feel like you have what it takes but you’re drawn to the magickal path, still pursue it. Your pursuit of magickal knowledge will help to give you the necessary tools and materials from which to build.